Intransigent
by divergentandproudofit
Summary: We leave, in a few months, to face whatever lies outside the fence. We may find a paradise. We may find the broken world Amanda Ritter entrusted to us. Or we may find that we are the last humans left. We live in a world of choice, and now it is time to choose: to live in safety or to seek danger in doing whatever we were placed here to do... And I choose the danger.
1. Chapter 1

in·tran·si·gent

adj._ Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; uncompromising._

* * *

I can't shake the feeling of raw newness, of having to re-learn everything again, because everything I know, or thought I knew, is wrong.

Even now, an hour after we first learned about Amanda Ritter and the state of the world outside the fence, I am lost in my own thoughts. I made no protest as I was placed in this blank white cell to await my trial, my punishment for my attempts to thwart the combined mass of Dauntless and Factionless that were attempting to destroy all of Erudite's information.

Luckily, Tobias forced my brother to retrieve Amanda's presentation, and here we are.

It is chaos, for the moment, as everyone argues over what we should and should not do, whether we should go out or stay in, whether we should keep the factions or disband them.

So I sit in this little room, blank as a new sheet of paper, and try to sleep.

* * *

I don't know how long it has been when Tobias shakes my shoulder to wake me, but judging from the cramps in my neck and back, it has been at least three hours.

"What now?" I ask him. "Any news?"

"It took some convincing," he replies, leaning against the wall, "but you're not a dirty traitor anymore. You're free to go."

"Thanks." I stand up, rub the stiffness from my muscles, and give him a light kiss. He wraps his arms around me and holds me tightly, to make up for all the secrets and lies that we have been hiding, the things that nearly destroyed the ' us '.

"So what do we do?" I ask when we finally break apart.

"Nothing's final yet," he says, lacing his fingers with mine, " but the current thought is to take a few months for preparation- gathering supplies, training everyone to fight, and so on- and then leave the city. If that happens, it means that I'll be teaching everyone else to protect themselves. You, too, if you want."

I smile up at him. "You know, Four," I say, "I think I'd like that."

He kisses my forehead gently. " Alright then, Six. Let's head back to the Dauntless compound. Christina and Uriah and everyone else who wasn't involved in the discussion are there already."

"Including the other factions?" I wonder aloud, imagining a bunch of Candor and Amity running through the hallways, falling off the Pit paths, asking nosy questions, and generally causing mayhem. I laugh at the thought.

"No. Everyone goes to their sector of the city until further notice."

As we walk out the door and down the hallway, I think of one last question. "What about Caleb?"

Tobias looks at me with beautiful dark blue eyes, a look full of sadness. "His trial is tomorrow. He was helping Jeanine, and I'm not sure that he'll be found innocent."

I nod a bit too vigorously, struggling to keep my expression neutral. "Alright then. Shall we go?"

He checks his watch. "The next train should be here in about eight minutes or so."

Without warning, he scoops me up and starts to carry me towards the stairs.

"Hey! Put me down!" I say, pushing at his chest, giggling.

"Make me," he replies without missing a beat.

I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at him, and he chuckles quietly. "I have a surprise for you, when we get back to the Pit," he informs me.

"Does it have anything to do with putting me down?"

"It might."

I lean back against him, secretly enjoying the strength of the arms that carry me and the suggestion in this strange eyes.

I never, ever want this to end.

**Review, por favor. I need feedback on this. Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is full of fluff...maybe a little TOO fluffy... sorry about that.**

**(Disclaimer: I will own Divergent when Eric joins Abnegation because he wants to reform and learn to be selfless.)**

When we arrive at the Dauntless compound, Tobias and I do not go to his old apartment, where we lived for a day or so before I sacrificed myself to the Erudite. Instead, he takes my arm and guides me into the glass building known as the Pire.

"Where are we going?" I ask Tobias as he pulls me along.

"You'll see," he replies, a small smirk on his face.

And I do realize, when we enter the floor just below the roof, reserved for the leaders' apartments, that he must have been moved up here.

Of course, he did. He is a Dauntless leader now, after all, because him as a leader was the only way he could make an alliance with the factionless happen.

He didn't want to be, at first, but after the war began, almost all of our leaders were revealed to be in league with the Erudite.

He opens a plain black door with his free hand, and pulls me into the room behind it. When I enter behind him, my eyes widen in shock.

The ceiling is high, and you can see to the glass roof and the night sky above it, which sparkles with stars. The room itself is spacious, with low, luxurious furniture and a hardwood floor. There is a kitchen in one corner, and in another, a hallway promises more rooms.

It is beautiful.

"Oh my God," I whisper.

"You like it?"

"I love it. Tobias, this is amazing."

"It's all ours. " He clears his throat. "I mean, assuming you want to live with me."

"Of course," I say quickly. I look around the room again, and something catches my eye. On the wall above the couch, 4+6 is spray painted in dark gray, along with the Dauntless and Abnegation faction symbols.

"So that's why I barely saw you after we got back from Erudite."

"Yeah. I wanted it to be perfect."

I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him for all it's worth. Here, now, in this moment, he is my world. There is only him and me and this beautiful collection of rooms.

When we separate long enough to catch our breath, I touch my forehead to his and say, "I love you, Tobias."

I have no idea how we both wind up on the floor, but somehow I am on top of him, our lips pressed together, our hands roaming, exploring. Finally Tobias pulls away and rolls out from under me.

"I think we'd better stop," he says shakily. "Before I forget the reasons why."

I nod and stand up, brushing imaginary dirt off my jeans.

"Let's eat," I say. The last thing I had was breakfast at the Amity compound, and that feels like years ago. Given all that's happened, I have a right to be hungry.

He looks up at me from where he is, still sprawled across the floor. "Dining hall or kitchen?"

"Dining hall," I say. "I want to talk to Christina."

He nods, and I reach out a hand to pull him up. Tobias is heavy, though, and the floor is slippery, so I wind up on the ground next to him again, laughing.

"That's the last time I'm helping you up," I say to him, faking a glare.

He just raises an eyebrow and rolls to his feet. I follow suit, and we both walk out the door and into the glass elevator in silence.

As usual, the dining hall is noisy and filled with people. Out of habit, I grab plain pasta with just a tiny bit of Parmesan cheese, carrot sticks, and peas, while Tobias fills his plate with a ridiculous amount of cake and ice cream.

"Please don't tell me you're actually going to eat all of that. I figure you've got about an hour before you're passed out on the couch in a sugar induced coma."

"I am. You can have some if you want, though."

I stop walking, reach over with my fork, and steal a huge bite of cake, popping it in my mouth with a satisfied smirk.

He rolls his eyes and guides me over to an empty table, taking a seat beside me.

I'm happy that things are better between us, that we're not yelling and fighting at the moment. When we were at the Merciless Mart with the Candor, I missed him so badly it took my breath away. I thought about him almost every waking moment, and I was scared to death of losing him to another girl, or of him being killed. With all the stupid, dangerous things we did, I still can't quite believe that we're both alive.

Christina plunks down on my other side, carrying a tray loaded with hamburger and French fries.

"Nice to see that you and Four are back on track." She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up," I say, punching her shoulder. Tobias kicks me under the table, and I punch him, too. "You owe me more cake for that one."

He spears a hunk of cake with his fork and puts it in my mouth, just as Uriah walks over, along with Zeke, who is pushing Shauna in a wheelchair.

"Hey, Tris, Four. How's it going?"

"Mmmph umph gulph," I reply around the huge bite of cake. Everyone laughs. I chew, swallow, and say, " what do you think? I mean, about Amanda/ Edith and what's outside the fence."

"I don't know," Shauna says truthfully. "If it's really as bad as she said in the video, then I'm not sure if I want to leave here."

"I want to go, even if it's bad," Christina says, looking around as if daring just to challenge her. " It's better to know the truth about what we're facing than to just wonder all our lives, hidden by a stupid fence."

It's a very Candor thing to say, and Uriah nods in agreement. "I want to go. No matter what. What about you, Tris?"

I haven't really decided yet. In my mind, I'm still weighing the facts. Finally, I take a deep breath and say carefully, "I want to help the people. But we don't know what's happened out there since they put us in here, or how many generations have lived and died since they did. We could be the last ones left."

Everyone is silent, considering this for a moment.

What would it be like, to go out there and find a barren planet, even more bleak and hopeless than the place we left behind?

I imagine dry, scorched earth surrounding us on all sides until it touches the cold, dark sky. I imagine all traces of humankind wiped away, and our people simply scattered to the wind, in all different directions.

Everyone who needed us, dead. Everything we worked for, gone.

Nothing left, ever.

**What do you think? Again, sorry so fluffy. By the way, I changed my profile picture to what I thought the apartment might look like, so you can look at that if you want.**

**Be brave,**

**divergentandproudofit**


	3. Chapter 3

I am tired, so tired, that as soon as I finish my dinner I go back to Tobias's apartment- _our_ apartment- and wander down the hallway, opening doors at random. There is a closet, two bedrooms, and a bathroom, all neatly arranged and organized.

I find one of Tobias's old t-shirts to change into, then I climb into bed, pull the covers over me, and sink into a deep, troubled sleep, full of shadows and flame and madness.

* * *

After the first round of unspeakable nightmares, I wake with my breath caught in my chest and Tobias's arms around me in a protective embrace, like he thinks I'm going to run away from him again. He is sleeping soundly, seemingly unaffected by all the events of the past month or so.

He looks so much younger when he's sleeping, more like the eighteen year old he is, not as worn or beaten down. The moon shines through a window onto his perfect face, bathing him in cool, silvery light. I gently trace the line of stubble on his jaw, my hand moving to his rumpled hair and neck.

I don't deserve him. I have done awful things, and hid them from everyone else, and lied about them. He did not shoot his best friend, or threaten his own family. Really, it's no wonder I have nightmares and he doesn't.

I deserve to go to Hell, and he doesn't.

Tears prickling my eyes, I curl up against his muscular chest, somewhere between awake and dreaming, and stay like that until morning comes, bringing with it a new day.

* * *

I hurl the knife at the board with my left arm, muttering a curse as it hits the wall again. Since my right shoulder still aches from where I got shot, I've been working on aiming with my left hand. Unfortunately, I still can't hold a gun. The feel of the cold, hard metals, of the trigger, threatens to drown me with all the things I've done.

The door to the training room bangs open just as I poise my arm to throw again.

"Hey, Tris," Uriah says, picking up a knife and slashing the air with it.

"Hey." I throw another knife, and this time it hits the edge of the target. I smile in satisfaction. "What did you want?" I say, turning to him.

His eyes shift to the side. "We have sort of a problem," he mutters at the ground.

"Which is?"

"Peter's gone missing."

It takes a moment for this to sink in. "What? Missing how?"

Uriah lifts his eyes to mine and scratches the back of his neck. "Missing, as in, gone. He wasn't with the Erudite and Dauntless traitors we captured, he's not with the factionless. In other words, we have no idea where he is. Like he's vanished off the face of the earth. It's kind of spooky, actually."

This is frightening on many different levels. He could be anywhere in the city, wreaking havoc on the water supply systems, the people, sabotaging the supplies. Not to mention his personal vendetta against me. He would not hesitate to kill me in my sleep.

"So what do we do? I mean, now that we have a potential psychopath running loose somewhere in the city." My voice comes out steadier than I expected. After years of life in Abnegation, I have a lot of practice hiding my emotions from others.

Uriah grins, but it's a sarcastic, sadistic smile. "We go after him, of course."

I hurl another knife at the target and it sticks, right in the center. But now I could not care less. I won't sleep soundly at night until Peter is dead and gone.

I can find no safety here anymore.

* * *

As I wander through the Dauntless compound in search of Tobias, Kee, Lauren's eight year old sister, comes up and tugs at my sleeve.

"You're Tris, right?"

I nod.

"Lauren wants to show you something."

"Where is she?" I ask, perplexed. Lauren and I don't really associate much. "Come on. I'll show you." Kee leads me down a hallway I've never seen before, skipping to keep up with me. "Lauren wouldn't tell me anything about it. Not even when I promised to be good," the little girl pouts.

I don't know what to say to this. If Kee isn't allowed to know about it, then it must be important. Important, or dangerous.

"She's in there," Kee says, pointing to an open door.

I cautiously enter the room. Despite its small size, many people are squeezed into it, craning their necks to look at something. As I turn to the far wall, my body freezes in shock, and my breath rasps out in a strangled squeak.

On the wall, painted in a color as red as blood, are the words:

DIVERGENTS BEWARE, WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.

**Dun dun dun... so what do you think? Does the cryptic message have anything to do with the case of the missing Peter? Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent, yada yada yada...**

The world spins in circles around me, and I realize that I'm clutching someone's arm, barely able to keep my balance.

WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.

WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.

It's not a threat but a promise, and I know as soon as I see it the Peter is behind it.

* * *

_When I come back, the word Stiff is spray painted across my mattress in red. The word is written smaller along the bed frame, and again on my pillow. I look around._

_Peter stands behind me, whistling as he fluffs his pillow. "Nice decorations," he says._

_"Did I do something to you that I'm unaware of?" I demand. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you and I are in the same faction now."_

_"I don't know what you're talking about," he says lightly. "And you and I will never be in the same faction."_

* * *

For someone who came from Candor, I've never known a bigger liar.

I let go of the boy who's arm I grabbed, muttering an apology, and stare at the words again.

To be Divergent is to be hunted, forever running from the doom hanging over your head. It is to foreswear safety, and live a life of lies and hiding. But, on the other hand, a Divergent mind may be the greatest weapon of all.

I look around, in the hopes that I will see a tall boy with short hair and dark blue eyes, but I have no such luck. I leave, quickly, before fingers are pointed and the decision is made to cast us out, because our being here jeopardizes their safety.

I run all the way back to our apartment, taking the stairs two steps at a time because the elevator is too slow. I burst through the door, out of breath. Tobias and Zeke are zoned out on the couch, and they look up in surprise.

"Peter's missing...there's a message on the wall in red...Divergents...It's not safe here..." I get our between bursts of panicked breath.

"Whoa. Slow down," Zeke says emphatically, waving his hands in the air. "I can't understand a word that you're saying."

Tobias steps forward and pulls me onto the couch with him, so that I'm sitting on his lap, wrapped up in his arms.

"What I'm saying," I repeat, slower and calmer this time, "is that Peter's missing, and there's a message, spray painted on the wall of some room, that says someone- or something - is coming for the Divergents. It's not safe here anymore," I finish, "and if Peter's behind this, which he most likely is, then he'll kill me. Just because he can."

"Tris, calm down. Just because Peter hates you doesn't mean that he's going to-"

I stare daggers at Zeke. "You don't know him. I do. He stabbed someone in the _eye_ with a butter knife during initiation. He's already tried to kill me once. He was pretty much Jeanine's pet while I was in Erudite, and if you ask me Hell is too good for him." I am practically shouting now, tears coming to my eyes as I think of what the consequences may be for refusing to believe me, to _hear_ me, dismissing it as stress or hysteria.

Tobias's grip tightens around my waist, and Zeke backs off. I glare around the silent room.

Sometimes, you have to get angry before it gets better. Sometimes anger is the only way, besides crying, or just giving up. This is why, when things get bad, people fight and yell and break apart from one another. The anger is like a wave. It starts, it peaks. And then it is gone, and the water is still and quiet after it, as if the wave had never existed.

I slump weakly against Tobias, taking comfort from his warmth and strength. "I just don't know what to do," I say softly.

"Just wait. Maybe it's nothing." He gently kisses my forehead , and Zeke stares awkwardly at the two of us. He mutters something about going to find Uriah and leaves the room.

I curl up against Tobias and tell him everything, from Uriah's pronouncement to the message on the wall. When I finally finish, he is silent for a moment.

"This is perplexing," he says eventually. "Peter's disappearance and the message may just be two unrelated things, but I don't think so. My theory is that Peter has somehow gotten into the Dauntless compound, and is now trying to make people panic. Panic creates chaos, which is probably just what he wants."

I nod, biting my lip. "I just hope we can stop him before he tries to kill us all."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you all so, so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I had no idea the response to my story would be so good ( especially since I write a lot of this during school with people looking over my shoulder every 5 seconds and saying, "what are you writing? What's fanfiction? Why are you giving me an evil look?")**

* * *

_So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? _

_So you think you can love me and leave me to die?_

-Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

* * *

I sit, curled upon the floor of the same hallway I went to after Edward got stabbed in the eye, the hallway that is my refuge from bad things and screams and blood and horrors repeating themselves over and over, deep inside my mind.

The paint that Peter used was as red as blood. Blood like the blood that bled from my parents and Will and Lynn and probably Marlene too.

Red like the blood that humans will bleed for as long as we exist, long after I'm gone.

I feel a sudden urge to scream, to run, to tear everything apart so it can't hurt me anymore. I am _angry,_ angry at the whole fucking stupid world.

Instead of hurting someone else, though, I punch the wall.

My hand hits the cement with a hard, satisfying _thunk,_ and my knuckles burn from the impact.

I punch the wall over and over and over again, until blood runs down my hand and drips onto the floor, staining my skin red.

"Shit!" I yell. And then I start to cry.

I hit the wall a fifth time, and a sixth, ignoring the pain. Our world is made of pain, anyway.

What does it matter?

Then Tobias is there, standing in front of me as I raise my fist for another attack on the wall, grabbing my wrist to stop me. I was too focused on my anger to have heard him come in, and the Abnegation girl inside me is ashamed. I am selfish, so selfish.

"Enough," he says. "Stop. Before you break your hand."

I hold my hand out in front of me, and turn it around and around as if seeing the blood for the first time. I look up at Tobias through the tears gathering on my lashes, thinking of a thousand insults I'd like to hurl at him and then a thousand more.

I don't.

Instead, I throw myself into his arms and start sobbing like crazy. He says nothing, he just lets me cry, holding me tightly against him.

When I have no more tears left, minutes or hours later, I can't tell which, he takes my undamaged hand and gently leads me down the hallway.

"Let's clean you up. You can't help anybody if you're bleeding all over the place."

I nod and follow behind him. My head throbs, and I feel unbalanced. Borderline insane. Which I probably am, judging from my out of control reaction to Peter's little message. If he could have seen me, he'd be laughing his head off. I can almost hear him saying, "so our little _Stiff_ has cracked at last. What a tragedy."

I refuse to give him any more satisfaction.

When we reach our apartment, he takes me into the bathroom and gently sponges off my hand, applying a salve and a light bandage. As he works, I can't help thinking that he looks strange, almost wrong, in black. Right now, he belongs in the grey clothes of the Abnegation.

"Thank you," I say, twisting my hair around my finger.

"You're welcome," he replies, and suddenly it is as if we can't hold it in anymore. Our lips press together, and his hands tangle in my hair, wild and passionate and beautiful. And I'm not afraid of him anymore. Instead of the nervous panic that has always been there before, there is only a calm certainty, pulsing and throbbing with the rhythm of my heart.

* * *

"Where have you _been_ all day?" Christina asks me, racing to catch up as I make my way across the Pit floor. "I haven't seen you anywhere. Or _Four,_ either, for that matter." She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

I roll my eyes. "It's not like that," I say, and quickly explain about Peter and the message.

"Shit," she says when I'm finished. "That's scary. I mean, he could be anywhere. It's not exactly that hard to disappear, at least not now after everything's gotten fucked up."

"Yeah." I pause, scanning the walls and floor of the Pit. "He could be _right behind us._ And we would have no idea."

Christina whirls around, but the only people behind us are a group of Dauntless children playing tag.

"I think we're good," she says. "Now about you and Four..."

I groan. "My God, Christina. Do you need to know every single freaking detail of my love life?"

"Yes. Yes I do," she says, "seeing as I don't really have one at the moment."

"Can we at least talk about this somewhere more private?"

She nods. "Let's get tattoos."

I follow her up the Pit path to the tattoo parlor. I've been meaning to get another one since we left Candor, but I kind of forgot. I want another raven, to represent Tobias, because he's all I have left.

I want it tattooed right over my heart.


	6. Chapter 6

_Warm my heart tonight  
(force me to lose control)  
And hold my head up high  
(watch as I lose my soul)  
And help me to survive  
(push me until I fall)_

Liquid State by Muse

* * *

I am throwing knives again in the Training Room, taking time to make sure that each one hits the center of the target. I am training my left arm to be as good as my right. I will not choose weakness; I cannot give in because of a shoulder injury. To choose weakness is cowardice; cowardice is reprehensible. I will not be a coward.

Pass. Aim. Throw. Repeat. As I go through the motions, I imagine that each knife hits a different part of Peter's face.

The door opens, startling me so that my next knife hits the wall instead of the grooved wooden board. I mutter a word my parents never allowed me to say and stomp over to retrieve it.

"You call _that_ a throw?" Tobias smirks, flipping a knife in his hand, tossing it up and down. "I know you can do much better than that, _Stiff."_

"I'd like to see you do better with your left hand while someone opens the door and you're not expecting it, _Four,"_ I retort, faking an angry glare.

"You're distracted too easily," he replies, switching the knife to his left hand and hurling it at the board. It hits the target dead center.

"Screw you." I stick my tongue out at him, seeing the laughter in his dark blue eyes as he throws another knife. I run at him, catching him by surprise and laughing as I actually manage to knock him over.

He raises his eyebrows and retaliates by flipping me over and wrestling me to the ground. I elbow him in the ribs in an attempt to get him to release me, but I have no such luck.

"I want a rematch," I mutter, trying to wiggle out from under his grip.

"Tris, Tris, Tris," he says, shaking his head. "I thought I taught you better than that."

I don't miss the slight suggestion in his eyes and in his voice. I give him a mischievous grin and pull him down for a kiss.

"There are other ways to win a fight," I whisper, breathless.

He smiles and rolls off of me. "Tris." He says, more serious now.

"What?"

"I think it's time for you to start shooting a gun again."

Guns are bad; they make me think of blood and screams and Will's lifeless body crumbling to the ground.

I am about to shout NO! and leave the room, but then I remember something Tobias once told me._ I ignore my fear. When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn't exist._

I swallow, and nod, hoping that he can not read the emotion written on my face. My hands squeeze into fists at my sides, and my heart pounds like a drum.

_I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear, and permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it is gone, only I will remain._

Tobias unlocks a closet and pulls out a gun and a cartridge, clicking it into the chamber and snapping it closed. He presses it into my hand, giving my hand a gentle squeeze before he lets go.

My hands shake as I straighten my arms and lift the gun so that it points directly at the target. I take a deep breath and close my eyes as I press the trigger, gently and then harder and harder until...

_Bang!_ A bullet hole appears at the edge of the target. I let out the breath I've been holding, and look at Tobias for reassurance.

"Not bad," he says. "You need to work on your aim, though."

Tobias has me shoot the gun until I no longer want to scream, or cry. I don't see Will anymore when I pull the trigger.

I feel nothing. The gun is just a tool, an instrument. There is nothing to fear.

I am strong. I am brave.

**Poor Tris. Can't throw knives without getting interrupted ;)**

**Tobias want you to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**So who else thought the ending of Allegiant was cruel beyond words? I finished it in a day, and cried myself to sleep. I must take a break from prepping for NaNoWriMo and post a chapter to make myself feel better...**

I walk along the broken street, avoiding the huge chunks of concrete and shattered glass that pave my way. I need a place to think, and to be alone, away from the curious eyes and the questions of the rest of my faction. So I slipped away from the dining hall and headed straight for the place I knew would be, at the very least, unoccupied.

I slip through the broken gates and walk slowly towards my destination.

I'm not going to climb the Ferris Wheel again, of course. The last time, I almost plummeted to my death and would be in another place if Tobias hadn't saved me. After Erudite, I am less casual about risking my life. Instead, I take a seat on a rusted bench and try to clear my head.

Uriah said something about going after Peter, when he told me about the fact that he was missing. I know it has to happen, because there are so many ways Peter could sabotage the preparations to leave. I know that it will be dangerous, because though Peter is cruel he is not an idiot, and he has many ways to hide. But even knowing what I know, I am still considering volunteering to do the job. I have to show Peter that I do not fear him, and that I am just as capable as he is. I can win this game of minds.

I slowly unwind the bandage from my hand, looking at the sticky remnants of the hurt I inflicted upon myself. If I am going to do this, I need to stop caving whenever something gets bad. I hurl the bandage somewhere into the rubble, and stretch out across the bench, looking up into the deep black of the night sky, speckled with stars.

I have an old memory of a night when I was very young, and my mother carried me out to see the stars, pointing out constellations and giving me their names, one by one. Orion. Andromeda. Scorpio. It most likely was a dream, but the sky looks just the same now as it did then.

I wonder if this is the sky Edith Prior saw.

I lie there, staring at the sharp sliver of moon until I drift into a state somewhere between awake and dreaming.

* * *

The sound of footsteps. The thud of a shoe hitting concrete, and a muttered curse. These are the sounds that awaken me. It is still dark, but the horizon beyond the marsh yields just the faintest glimmer of gray. I pull myself into a sitting position just as Tobias comes into view.

"Thought I might find you here," he says, wrapping one of his jackets around my shoulders and settling down beside me.

"Yeah. I needed to think about...stuff," I say, remembering the decision I made last night. I never thought about how it would affect Tobias, and I have already foolishly risked my life before thinking of him first, and the last time it was almost too late. I promised myself that I would stop all the secrets and the lies between us.

I slowly and carefully, without wasting words, tell him what I will do. "And, not, this is not me unnecessarily taking risks again", I finish. "Peter needs to be stopped, or else he'll find a way to destroy everything we're working for."

He sighs, and I see a glimmer of exasperation on his face. "Fine, then. But if you insist on throwing yourself into danger, you can't stop me from coming with you." His voice is flat, barred of emotion, like he is afraid of showing what he really feels. "I can't let you get hurt."

_If you die, I die too._ That is what he said to me when he followed me into Erudite, almost into death. Losing me would push him over the edge, and that is why he follows me into every stupid, crazy, stubborn thing I do. I understand that, even though I sometimes hate him for it.

"I'll care more about staying alive this time around." I wince as soon as the words leave my mouth. I didn't mean for that to sound so harsh. "Argh, no, what I mean... what I meant to say is..."

I'm not even sure what I meant to say anymore, so I just wrap my uninjured arm around him and kiss him for all its worth. He holds me tightly, pushing me into the bench as all rational thought leaves my head on raven's wings.

I love him. That is all.


	8. Chapter 8

**My tumblr app crashed! NOOO! So here I am, writing another chapter.**

**By the way, I'm divergemeagain on tumblr if any of you want to visit me :)**

Uriah walks in late to dinner, his hair ruffled and his face smeared with pink, green, and yellow paint. Christina grins devilishly from across the table, and I see a small steak of blue right behind her left ear.

If what I've gathered is true, Christina and Uriah are becoming quite close. They aren't actually together, of course, but this is good for them. They have both loved and lost, and are still healing from their wounds.

They help each other heal, almost in the way Tobias and I do. Speaking of which, I haven't seen him all day- not since we walked back from Navy Pier, early this morning.

I raise my eyebrows at my best friend, and she shrugs. "What can I say? I was bored. And he said if I actually managed to hit him, I could pick what he eats for a week. Couldn't resist."

I roll my eyes and laugh, struggling to breathe as I realize that all Christina put on Uriah's plate was fruit and vegetables.

"It's all healthy," Uriah groans, putting a hand to his forehead and resting his feet on the table, narrowly avoiding knocking over a glass of juice. "Gross."

"Yeah," Christina replies, poking him in the stomach with one finger. "'Cause you're fat."

"I am not," Uriah pouts, glaring at Christina and swatting her hand away, just as Tobias walks in, wearing a carefully controlled expression.

"Marcus is here," he says, sitting down next to me and slumping in his chair, covering his eyes with his hand.

Instantly, I feel a flare of anger. How dare he. How dare Marcus Eaton, the man who destroyed my Tobias's life, come to seek him out. He is a monster, a cruel and ruthless liar who cares only for himself.

"Why?" I say, so soft and low that only Tobias can hear.

"He says he wants to speak with me," he says hollowly. "I left the office, and ran... hopped a train, until the memories were gone."

So that's why I haven't seen him. He needed an escape. Don't we all, sometimes?

"He can't control you," I whisper. "It's all in the past now. The trick is to just keep moving forward."

I ignore my friends' whistles and shouts of "get a room, already" when he leans in for a kiss. His fire burns so bright, it erases everything, and only the gentle heat remains.

When we finally separate, I am grinning like an idiot, and he seems a little lighter. It is easy, so easy to forget about Marcus, and Peter, and the war and my parents and killing Will and everything that's happened since initiation. Right now, we are not stragglers in a world on the verge of collapse. We are Dauntless, and I feel like doing something stupid and brave.

"Does anyone want to play Capture the Flag tonight?" I ask, surveying the eager faces in front of me.

I think we all just want to forget for a little while. I think back to something Tobias told me, once, after I was dosed with peace serum in Amity. _People want to be happy, even if it isn't real._ He's right.

Maybe, if we try hard enough, it will go back to how it was before our careful world blew apart.

**Short, I know, and I'm sorry for that. Couldn't resist the little bit of Christina·Uriah though. I always kinda thought those two were meant for each other.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry this took so long to post... I wrote a lot of it in Band today while the guys were jamming out to Higher Ground, and I decided to get on the keyboard because I'm awesome... but hey, half day.**

**Aaand it is now POURING RAIN. Happy Halloween, y'all!**

We leap off the train, one by one, illuminated by the fading glow of it's light. In the darkness, clothed in black and secrets, we could be shadows, as thin and wraithlike as wisps of smoke.

Zeke takes our flag, a glowing orange triangle, out of his coat pocket and dangles it in front of us. "Where do we want to put this thing?" he inquires." I mean, now that the other team probably knows where we usually put it."

I turn to look at Tobias, who stands beside me. His dark blue eyes glint in the moonlight, and the moon illuminates his face just enough for me to make out the faint line of stubble tracing along his jaw. The world shifts around me, and I have to take a deep breath. If it weren't for the gun slung casually over his shoulder, I would say he looks like an angel.

He puts a hand on my shoulder and nods ever so slightly, so that I almost don't notice it. But when he looks towards the Ferris wheel, I know exactly what he's thinking. I grin and lean back into his touch.

"We know the perfect place," I say.

* * *

"What do you guys do up here? Climb this thing for fun?" Uriah pants from behind me, trying to pull himself up with just his arms, grinning and sweating. Show off. I wish it was Tobias with me instead, I feel so much safer with him, but Christina volunteered Uriah for the job. As she put it, "if you and Four both do it, there's no guarantee that you'll both come back down again."

I don't like it, but I have a feeling Tobias is much happier this way.

"Not exactly," I say in response to Uriah's question, feeling the wind on my skin and remembering Tobias's hand on my stomach, keeping my balance but stealing my breath.

"So then why do you climb?" he presses, breathing heavily. "I know that it can't be just for the fun of risking your lives."

If he's trying to get a confession out of me, it won't work. I have nothing to confess, anyway.

I stop my ascent and and look down at him, swaying gently in the wind. He raises his eyebrows.

"What? Just a simple question. No need to get all defensive." He smirks, lifting a hand to turn the ring in his eyebrow. "Or do you have something to hide?"

I shake my head. "No. Back off."

We climb in silence for a while, and I marvel at how beautiful the city looks from this angle, laid out in neat lines, the glass and steel reflecting the silver moonlight.

Besides the rubble and broken buildings, it doesn't look like a place where awful things like wars and mind control happen.

I climb and climb until I reach the small platform in the center of the wheel, pulling the flag out of my boot and gently draping it over a metal strut. I sit cross legged on the metal, remembering. Tobias sat beside me, here, back when he was only Four and I was only the little Stiff transfer with a secret to keep.

We have both become more in the past few months, both to each other and to the world. Life was so simple, back then.

Uriah swings onto the platform and stands next to me, looking out over the park. Below us, the other members of our team look like tiny ants.

"It really makes you think, doesn't it?" he says absently, dragging a hand through his hair. "I mean, about how small we are and how big the world is".

"Yeah," I say, my voice heavy and thick with emotion. We sit in silence for a while, until finally he clears his throat and says, "we should start climbing down."

"Okay," I reply, pulling myself to my feet. "Of course, we could always just jump."

He smiles wide, and in that moment I see him as the carefree boy he was before the war.

The War has changed us all, has darkened us inside, hardened our hearts, and we will never be the same again.

"You jump first," he tells me, grabbing a bar and swinging across to another one, using only one arm.

"Show off," I mutter, grabbing a rung.

When we both stand on solid ground again, Christina comes to meet us, holding her gun by its strap. "About time. What took you so long?"

"This pansycake climbs like a wimpy Erudite," I explain, jerking my thumb in Uriah's direction.

"What?" he exclaims, his eyes wide, throwing his hands in the air. "I have no energy. It's your fault for giving me plants for dinner."

"As opposed to... what?" Christina retorts, leading the way back to the group. "More cake? You're just fat."

I listen to them argue all the way to the carousel, where everyone else waits.

"The other team is on a big hill, right by the marsh," Zeke reports. I try to pay attention as Zeke and Tobias outline our plans, but I have a strange, prickly feeling- like I'm being watched.

I whip my head around, scanning the tree line for signs of an unwelcome guest, but I detect nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm probably just paranoid, and I have a right to be.

"Tris." Tobias comes over to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Hey," I say softly, reaching up to ruffle his hair. "What's up?"

"You, Christina, and I are going to be the advance scouts. We'll pick a moment when the other team isn't watching and signal the rest, then they'll attack and we'll take the flag."

He knows me so well; he figured out that I wasn't listening and told me what I needed to know. I turn, stand on tiptoe, and kiss him, ignoring groans and shouts of "get a room".

When we separate without a word, we turn and head into the woods.

**This chapter has to be separate from the next, for reasons you will find out later. Please review, it motivates me to write, and remember to visit me on tumblr (divergemeagain).**

**Be brave!**


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